Mugwort |
MUGWORT (Common) ARTEMISIA VULGARIS The tops, leaves and flowers ... are aromatic and most safe and excellent in female disorders. An aromatic perennial plant growing to three or four feet (0.9 to1.2 m) with angular reddish-brown sterns and leaves that are smooth and green on top and white and hairy underneath. The button-like flowers are a yellowish- brown. Where to find it: Waste ground, watersides, and near footpaths and hedges. Flowering time: Midsummer. Astrology: A herb of Venus. Medicinal virtues: An excellent tea for female disorders. The flowers and buds should be put into a teapot and boiling water poured over them. When cool, add a little sugar and milk. Drink this twice a day or oftener. Sitting over the infusion helps bring down the courses, hastens delivery of the baby and helps to expel the afterbirth. It is also good for obstructions and inflammations of the mother. It breaks the stone and provokes the water. Made into an ointment with hog's grease, it takes away wens, hard knots and kernels that grow about the neck. This is more effective if some Daisies be put with it. The fresh herb or juice is a remedy for the taking of too much Opium. Three drams (5.3 g) of the dried, powdered leaves taken in wine is a speedy and certain help for the sciatica. Modern uses: The leaves and roots are used. It is a remedy for scanty menstruation and is taken by infusion in teaspoonful doses. It can be mixed with Marigold flowers, Cramp Bark and Black Haw in equal parts. Use one teaspoonful of the mixture to a cup of boiling water. As a nervine it is useful for convulsions, a teaspoonful of the powdered leaves being taken in water three times a day. Mugwort is a valuable herb but dosage is critical and it is best taken under the supervision of a medical herbalist. It should not be taken in pregnancy. |